Sometimes it all comes together. I had a delicious poached pear yesterday and someone mentioned Augustine’s story about stealing pears. As a teenager, Augustine ran with a wild crowd and one day they stole pears, not because they wanted pears but just to steal.

This reminded me of the story toward the end of Masechet Shabbat (156b) about the child and the tree, a story about astrological predictions going unfulfilled.

The Talmud says אין מזל לישראל, There is no luck/constellation for Israel. This could mean that Jews never get any luck, so stay away from the casino, or that there is no constellation with influence on Jews–i.e., that Jews are not subject to planetary influence so the astrologers’ predictions simply don’t apply to Jews. This could be because our fate is determined by God, whereas ancient pagans might think fate is determined by the planets or constellations. As Shakespeare’s Kent says in pre-Christian Britain, “The stars above us govern our conditions” (King Lear 3.2.33)

The Talmud tells three stories to show that astrological predictions don’t apply to Jews. In the last of the stories, astrologers tell a mother her son will be a thief. So she makes him cover his head to remind himself of heaven above. One day he falls asleep under a tree and wakes up with a bare head. Overcome by his thieving impulse, he climbs the tree and steals fruit.

Apparently, the astrologers were right. The mother knew it since she made the child cover his head, but there was no getting away from the destiny ordained by the planets.

Does this mean the pagans are right? When we cover our heads, are we confessing that the stars govern our conditions?

Oy, is wearing my yarmulke tantamount to acknowledging the power of idols?

And what about “Mazel Tov”? Does that mean, “May you fall under the influence of a beneficent constellation”? Some people say “Besha’ah Tovah” (At a propitious time), and that’s probably equally idolatrous.